Cincinnati Vertical Mill Identification

I had a gentleman contact me about a Cincinnati vertical mill. He said his serial number was 3J5VIT-3-RC-75.

Is his "V" possibly a "U", and this would be a No. 5 Vertical Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD, or is there a machine that starts with 3J5V that I'm not aware?

Okay I have pictures now. Does anyone know what this model is?

It looks like a dual power drive dial type, but the serial number is throwing me.

The enormous box ways on column say High Power

1T is 1947

This is it's smaller brother, a #3 and also a 1947.

Thanks John and Mike for the information. I wasn't completely sure what the differences were between the High Power and the Dual Power. Does the serial number make any sense to anyone's serial number book, or to anything else they've seen?

MattRobertson said:

Thanks John and Mike for the information. I wasn't completely sure what the differences were between the High Power and the Dual Power. Does the serial number make any sense to anyone's serial number book, or to anything else they've seen?

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My copy of the serial book (Sixth Edition 1975) omits any references to 3J models

One difference I am seeing on this machine versus my beloved #3 pictured above is the location of the feed rate dial. On the #3, that dial is on the column, right under the spindle speed dial. On this one, the feed dial is on the left side of the knee. Also, this appears to have a separate oil sump and pump in the head. The #3 has no level indicator or flow glasses on the head, this machine appears to have both.

One thing is for sure, you will never be looking for a better vertical mill. The rigidity and power of these machines is life changing, lol. From swinging facemills the size of dinner plates to 1/8" emdmills, they can do it all. I felt OK that the #3 had only a few thousadnths of sag when we first got it in and I put a DI in the spindle and trammed the table. As I proceeded to lock the axes, the sag kept reducing until I locked the knee and it went to well under .001. A 70 year old machine that was worked hard at Bell Aircraft (still has the Bell placard) all it's life, went to another shop and worked there 20-30years and still has no significant wear.

One thing, that they unfortunately removed to install the DRO, is the four position turret feed stop on the head. It's really handy for boring and any repetitive work where you need a depth stop. Whoever put the DRO on our VTL did the same thing, just put the DRO on the stop rails. The DRO makes some things easier, but I would gladly trade it for functional feed stops.

johnoder said:

My copy of the serial book (Sixth Edition 1975) omits any references to 3J models

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I have the 5th and 11th Editions, and they both omit it too. That's why I made this information available here:

Cincinnati Serial Number Index

It includes the J. Here's the specific section:

3J3P No. 3 Plain Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD
3J4P No. 4 Plain Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD
3J5P No. 5 Plain Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD
3J6P No. 6 Plain Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD
3J3U No. 3 Universal Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD
3J4U No. 4 Universal Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD
3J5U No. 5 Universal Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD
3J3U No. 3 Vertical Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD
3J4U No. 4 Vertical Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD
3J5U No. 5 Vertical Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD
3J6U No. 6 Vertical Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD

All the 3J's listed are as Dual Power. The 4J's are listed as High Power. That's why I thought this one was a Dual Power. John are you sure this is a High Power?

John are you sure this is a High Power?

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Not at all.

I have seen but one with the massive column ways and was told by dealer it was High Power

That's a real brute of a machine. Vertical milling machines don't come much better than that. I'm just glad I'm not paying your electricity bill.

I remember installing a slightly smaller ( no 4 ? ) horizontal version of that machine. I can still recall the sound of it running up to speed when we switched it on for the first time. Awesome.

Regards Tyrone.

One of those is definitely on the list once the shop is finished getting built.

alskdjfhg said:

One of those is definitely on the list once the shop is finished getting built.

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Cincinnati Vertical Mill #3

Only just on the other end of I-35 from you. :p

Cmike

MattRobertson said:

I had a gentleman contact me about a Cincinnati vertical mill. He said his serial number was 3J5VIT-3-RC-75.

Is his "V" possibly a "U", and this would be a No. 5 Vertical Dual Power Dial Type Milling Machine—Model OD, or is there a machine that starts with 3J5V that I'm not aware?[/QU

3J5V Is 550 = 20 Vertical dual power mill, model LA.born in 1947 R C in 1975


50 HP motor witha 20 inch table width. There is no knee motor. That type is harder to repair.

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30hp? Good lord. The pictured #3 was up-motored to 25hp and is ridiculous. I can't imagine what you could do with 50hp on the spindle. Would definitely be more a matter of keeping your work on the table rather than ever running out of power.

[486] said:

Cincinnati Vertical Mill #3

Only just on the other end of I-35 from you. :p

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Other than being so far away, I think I'd actually like a 5CK vertical, just to kinda match the 5CK horizontal I've got.

There is the vertical head for a 5CK I on ebay, in Houston, with both driving gears. But kinda hard for me to shell out $1500 for the head when I paid $500 for the whole mill.

And as much as building the shop is costing me, may not have $1500 to spare when I'm done.....

Heh, only reason I haven't jumped on it is that I'm holding out for a horizontal with a bolt-on vertical head.
Got a job that could halfway pay for it lined up, but barely room for a BP (in my dad's shop no less). Gotta buy dirt, then I can park machines on it.